Receptacle for autograph cards

ABSTRACT

A receptacle for autograph cards, characterized in that it is formed from a container with a wide compartment for the autograph cards, with a narrow compartment for a writing device arranged next to it, and is formed with a cover flap which may be flapped over the compartments.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention pertains to a receptacle for autograph cards.

2. Background Art

DE 20 2012 002 523 U1 discloses a receptacle for autograph cards having the form of a collection folder, in which specific autograph cards are glued, welded or are otherwise attached on or in transparent material of a collection page such that additional elements like paper pages for labeling may be put between the collection page and the transparent material. This known receptacle is regularly intended for already signed, individual autograph cards of well-known persons, which are regularly asked for signed autograph cards by fans. This known receptacle is not suited to receive and store a stack of autograph cards, in particular not yet signed autograph cards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is thus to provide a receptacle for not yet signed autograph cards to be signed by the well-known persons and passed on to the fans. The receptacle should provide a safe storage for autograph cards, but allows easy and quick access to the cards when they are needed.

To fulfill this object, the invention suggests a container having a wide compartment for a stack of autograph cards, with a narrow compartment arranged next to it for a writing device, and with a cover flap which may be placed or flapped over both compartments.

In the compartment for the autograph cards a stack of 20 to 50, preferably 35, unsigned autograph cards may be received, such that the well-known person always has available a relatively large number of autograph cards and a writing device useable for signing. The container may be implemented as a case or bin and/or be adapted to protect the autograph cards from damage and/or bending and/or weather.

The container may be formed of from one or more than one material, in particular, leather, plastic, fabric, textile material and/or fiber material like glass fiber or carbon fiber. The container may comprise a front wall and a back wall, which may be connected to each other by one or more seams, e.g. via stitching, gluing and/or welding. In particular, there may be provided lateral seams defining lateral outer borders of the compartments and/or an interior space between which the compartments are formed. The wide compartment and the narrow compartment may be separated by an intermediate seam defining a respective inner border for each of the compartments. A lateral seam or intermediate seam generally may be arranged essentially parallel to a direction of insertion of autograph cards and/or a writing device. Generally, to each compartment there may be associated a front wall portion and a back wall portion, which may essentially be parallel to each other. The wide compartment may also be referred to as card compartment, whereas the narrow compartment may be referred to as pen compartment.

The material or materials of the container may generally be soft and/or pliable, in particular walls of the container and/or outside material. In some variants, the container may comprise one or more support elements, which may be formed of a different material than walls of the container, in particular of hard and/or resilient material, e.g. metal and/or wood and/or fiber material, in particular glass fiber or carbon fiber. A support element generally may be wedge-like and/or arranged to serve as a spacer. There may be provided one or more support elements close and/or in parallel to one or more lateral seams or intermediate seams. A support element may be arranged to define a minimum distance of a front wall portion of a compartment, in particular of a wide compartment, from a corresponding back wall portion.

In one variant, a lateral support element may be arranged in parallel and/or on the inner side of a lateral seam associated or defining one side or border of the wide compartment and/or an intermediate support element may be arranged in parallel and/or on the inner side of an intermediate seam associated or defining an inner side or border of the wide compartment. There may be provided one or more curved and/or arch-like support elements to define an opening cross-section for the narrow compartment suitable to easily insert a writing device.

The wide compartment may be arranged to be wide enough to accommodate the width of an autograph card. The wide compartment may generally be dimensioned to be able to accommodate the full width, height and at least partially the height of a stack of autograph cards. It may be considered that the width of the wide compartment is larger than the width of a writing device and/or the narrow compartment. The wide compartment may have an opening, in particular at the top, allowing insertion of autograph cards.

The narrow compartment may be generally arranged to accommodate a writing device. Its width may generally be smaller than the width of the wide compartment. The narrow compartment may comprise at least one support element arranged to define its cross-section and/or opening size and form, in particular a curved, bent, circular, elliptical or arch-like element. The support element may be arranged inside the narrow compartment. It may be considered to provide an incision and/or cut and/or recess in a front wall portion associated to the narrow compartment, allowing insertion and/easy clamping of a protrusion of a pen, e.g. a clamp and/or part of a cap.

The cover flap may be arranged to be able to cover at least part of the front wall of each compartment. In particular, the cover flap may be arranged to prevent autograph cards and/or the pen from unintentionally falling out of the respective compartment.

A strap may be generally provided. The strap may be long enough that it, e.g. via a connection part arranged between limbs of the strap, provides a lower support of for the autograph cards when inserted and/or held in the wide compartment and/or provides at least on end, in particular a free end, which may be guided to the top and/or opening of the compartment such that is grippable to pull out the autograph cards at least partially. The strap may provide one or two free ends to be gripped. It may be considered that the strap is attached and/or fastened to and/or supported on the container or wide compartment, in particular to a front wall portion or back wall portion or bottom portion of the wide compartment, e.g. by stitching, gluing, welding and/or bolting and/or riveting.

There may be provided one or more than one guiding elements for the strap, e.g. loop elements and/or cross-straps, which may be attached to the front wall portion and/or back wall portion of the wide compartment, to guide the strap or a limb of the strap. For example, a connection part of the strap connection limbs of the strap arranged to run on a front portion and a back portion of a stack of cards, respectively, may be attached to the bottom of the wide compartment.

Alternatively or additionally, an end of the strap may be attached at the inside or outside of the wide compartment and/or the strap may be attached to a plurality of locations such that it may be utilized to pull out the autographs at least partly. The strap may be arranged to be guided within a loop element and/or between a cross-strap and an associated wall of the wide compartment. It may be considered to provide a stop at a free end of the strap arranged to prevent the strap from slipping out of a guiding element.

Generally, the wide compartment may be arranged such that autograph cards inside the closed container, i.e., the cover flap being closed, are arranged and/or held in a stack and/or enclosed by the container. The height of the wide compartment may be different from the height of the narrow compartment, e.g. to allow for differences between stack height and pen diameter, and/or may be similar or equal. A height difference may, for example, be induced by using support elements mentioned above such that the heights of the space defined by the support elements differ.

In a further development of the invention, a fastener element for the cover flap is provided. This can be a hook-and-loop fastener or a magnetic fastener or a press button or similar fastener.

In a further preferred development of the invention, a strap is inserted into the compartment for the autograph cards, both limbs of the strap wrapping around the stack of autograph cards, longer than the length of the inserted autograph cards, a connection part for the straps of which being arranged below the autograph cards in the wide compartment serving for at least partially pulling the autograph cards out of the compartment.

In the following, the invention is described in more detail referring to a container as receptacle for unsigned autograph cards.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of the container for autograph cards being closed by a cover flap;

FIG. 2 is a view onto the opened container; and

FIG. 3 is a view onto the opened container with a partially pulled out stack of autograph cards and partially pulled out writing pen.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The receptacle for unsigned autograph cards 2 according to FIG. 1 comprises of a container 1 made of soft basis material, integrally forming the back wall 4, the front wall 5 and a cover flap 6. The back wall 4 and the front wall 5 are connected to each other via lateral seams 7. The cover flap 6 and the back wall 4 are flappably connected with each other via a flap joint 8 of the basis material. The material of the soft basis material comprises of leather, plastic or fabric.

As shown in FIG. 2, inside the interior space between the lateral seams 7, there are formed on the left-hand side a wide compartment 11 for a stack 12 of unsigned autograph cards 2, and to the right-hand side a narrower compartment 14 for a writing device 15, in particular a signing pen. Both compartments 11, 14 are separated from each other by an intermediate seam 9, which is inserted between the front and back walls 4, 5.

The cover flap 6 on the edge of its inner side 10, and the front wall 5 on its front side, each carry a band-like fastener element 16, 17, which interact with each other when the container 1 is closed by flapping over the cover flap 6, to fasten the container 1. The band-like fastener elements 16, 17 are formed as hook-and-loop-band or as magnetic band fastener or from press buttons.

FIG. 3 shows the two limbs 18, 19 of a strap 3, which are placed on both sides of and surrounding the stack 12 of unsigned autograph cards 2, to allow pulling the stack 12 at least partially out of the compartment 11 by gripping the free ends 20, 21 and interacting with the connection part 13 on the inner, lower end of the limbs 18, 19, as shown in FIG. 3. The stack 12 comprises 20 to 50 autograph cards 2 having the dimensions of height H=16 cm and width B=10 cm.

The foregoing disclosure of specific embodiments is intended to be illustrative of the broad concepts comprehended by the invention. 

1. A receptacle for autograph cards, characterized in that it is formed from a container with a wide compartment for the autograph cards, with a narrow compartment for a writing device arranged next to it, and is formed with a cover flap which may be flapped over the compartments.
 2. The receptacle according to claim 1, characterized in that a fastener element is provided for the cover flap encompassing the compartments of the container.
 3. The receptacle according to claim 2, characterized in that the fastener element is a hook-and-loop-fastener.
 4. The receptacle according to claim 2, characterized in that the fastener element is a magnetic fastener.
 5. The receptacle according to claim 1, characterized in that a strap is insertable into the wide compartment for a stack of autograph cards, both limbs of which are longer than the autograph cards inserted into the wide compartment, and which enclose the stack of autograph cards from both sides such that the stack of autograph cards may be at least partly pulled out of the wide compartment utilizing the free ends.
 6. The receptacle according to claim 2, characterized in that a strap is insertable into the wide compartment for a stack of autograph cards, both limbs of which are longer than the autograph cards inserted into the wide compartment, and which enclose the stack of autograph cards from both sides such that the stack of autograph cards may be at least partly pulled out of the wide compartment utilizing the free ends.
 7. The receptacle according to claim 3, characterized in that a strap is insertable into the wide compartment for a stack of autograph cards, both limbs of which are longer than the autograph cards inserted into the wide compartment, and which enclose the stack of autograph cards from both sides such that the stack of autograph cards may be at least partly pulled out of the wide compartment utilizing the free ends.
 8. The receptacle according to claim 4, characterized in that a strap is insertable into the wide compartment for a stack of autograph cards, both limbs of which are longer than the autograph cards inserted into the wide compartment, and which enclose the stack of autograph cards from both sides such that the stack of autograph cards may be at least partly pulled out of the wide compartment utilizing the free ends. 